Al-Awlaki radicalized in the U.S., Yemeni official says

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Saba)-
Presidential advisor Abdul-Karim al-Eryani has said that U.S.-Yemeni critic Anwar
al-Awlaki
was radicalized in the United States.
"I can say with confidence that he [al-Awlaki] was not at all radicalized in Yemen.
He was radicalized in the United States", al-Eryani said in an interview conducted
by
the US-based PBS TV.
The Yemeni official made clear that his country currently faces several challenges
"the first challenge is economic, particularly extreme poverty in Yemen, the second
challenge
is no doubt security, and the third challenge is conflict in certain parts of Yemen.
So here we are with three challenges at the same time. But I'm always optimistic".
The following is an interview with al-Eryani.
[PBS]: The big question for everybody is whether Yemen becomes a failed state and
therefore a haven for Al Qaeda.
[Al-Eryani]: I have always disputed my even colleagues who talk about a failed
state. Yemen had been a state for the last 3,000 years at least. Therefore
statehood in Yemen
is a legacy, it's a culture in the minds of the people. When the state becomes weak,
traditional rules and regulations take over. I doubt that Yemen at any time would
become
a failed state. But becomes fragile, weak, the system -- the regime becomes weak
that allows certain undesirable individuals to seek Yemen as a haven. Yemen is not
really
a safe haven for let's say Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. They are always under
pressure. They are always not allowed to settle and become, let's say, a community
by
themselves. However, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula takes Yemen today before it
was Saudi Arabia.
Now it's Yemen. Of course, Yemen has minimal resources to actually eradicate Al
Qaeda. We defend on a lot on cooperation and the neighboring Arab countries such as
Saudi
Arabia.
[PBS]: How strong is Al Qaeda? [Al-Eryani]: I will say Al Qaeda in Yemen is not
very strong. I would guess -- or that's what security people think -- between 500
to 700
people. But they live in remote areas and under some tribal protection. At the same
time, they have been a danger mainly to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Al Qaeda in recent
years
has not been able to actually carry out an operation. The worst and the most
dangerous was last Christmas, Abdulmutallab.
[PBS]: The Detroit bomber.
[Al-Eryani]: Yes, the Detroit bomber. And he was in Yemen. He was here -- Arabic.
Then when he left Yemen he stopped in several stations in Africa until he came to
the United
States. Now the theory is that he was equipped in Yemen. But unless otherwise I
don't have approved that the only place he could have been equipped was Yemen.
[PBS]: What impact do drones have? [Al-Eryani]: The drones have been a mixed
impact. The impact has been mixed. First of all, unfortunately, drones sometimes
bomb civilians
and Al Qaeda makes a good use of that.
[PBS]: They use that to recruit new members.
[Al-Eryani]: Very much, yes, I believe so.
[PBS]: So should the United States use drones in your judgment? [Al-Eryani]: Very
carefully and with sufficient grand information and coordination with Yemeni
authorities.
Recently there has been a misfortune, a mistake of bombing within of the supporters
of the government against Al Qaeda by mistake or by error. You can call it human
error,
I don't know.
[PBS]: Many people think the issue here is how do you create a strong governance in
Yemen that will be able to be stable and defend itself against whatever terrorist
activities
there might be.
[Al-Eryani]: That is absolutely true. But strong governance a priority before that
is economic development, fighting poverty.
Yemen is one of the poorest countries or the second-poorest country in the Arab
world after, let's say, Mauritania. Maybe we are equal.
If you allow me to give you some statistics, the official food security strategy
published by the FAO, WFB, and government of Yemen, puts 6.8 million people food
insecure
in Yemen. That's 31 percent of the population. Of that number, 6.8 million, 2.5
million people are extremely food insufficient. Now, food insecure insecurity is
measured
by living with less than $2 a day. Extremely food insecure, that means living with
less than a dollar a day. And therefore with such a large number I think
overemphasizing
the security cooperation between Yemen and the United States and Yemen and all its
friends, European Union, its neighbors, I think to overemphasize security without
concentrating
on not necessarily eradicating poverty, but alleviating poverty, I think that will
not be success to feel fight terrorism.
[PBS]: Tell me what you know about Anwar al-Awlaki.
[Al-Eryani]: Well, to tell you the truth, I was instrumental when I was the
president of Sinai University to bring his father from New Mexico in 1976 to Yemen.
I was a professor
of Sinai University. His father is a wonderful man. The boy, I think, was just very
little boy. He was raised in Yemen.
[PBS]: Born in New Mexico and raised in Yemen.
[Al-Eryani]: Yes.
[PBS]: That makes him an American citizen.
[Al-Eryani]: And he's an American citizen. And then he traveled to the United
States to study, and I can say with confidence that he was not at all radicalized
in Yemen.
He was radicalized in the United States.
[PBS]: How did that happen? [AL-ERYANI]: How? Through -- I don't know -- radical
groups living in the United States. Anwar al-Awlaki is not really that important in
Yemen.
He's important through the Internet. He has no great following in Yemen. He's not
very well known. Now the mass media has served him well, I think, Arab and
international
mass media. He has become known, especially when it was decided that he could be
targeted. And that was not very popular in Yemen.
[PBS]: They put a number on his head, did they not? [Al-Eryani]: Exactly.
[PBS]: What is it, $25 million, how much was it? [Al-Eryani]: I really don't know.
[PBS]: But here the United States seems to think he's a huge threat, do they not?
[Al-Eryani]: He is a huge threat as an instigator, but not as a planner and
executer of
terrorism.
[PBS]: In other words, he does not have the kind of resources that Al Qaeda does to
carry out whatever he might want to do arising from his hatred of, say, the United
States.
[Al-Eryani]: I think he is coordinating much with Al Qaeda. I don't think he works
in vacuum or by himself.
[PBS]: And where is he? [Al-Eryani]: He is in the mountain range east of Sana'a,
east of Marib. Of course, the geography is difficult from your viewers. But it's a
range
of mountains al-Awlak. That's why he's called al-Awlaki because he's from the
al-Awlak mountain, and he belongs to the al-Awlak tribe.
[PBS]: So he is beyond capture? [Al-Eryani]: I wouldn't say he is beyond capture,
but he is well protected, but not beyond capture.
[PBS]: Well, can the government capture him? [Al-Eryani]: It will require ground
troop to do it, and that's very dangerous. The tribe itself is well-armed. All
Yemeni tribes
are well armed.
[PBS]: But is it politically feasible? [Al-Eryani]: Politically, I think so.
[PBS]: In other words, would the president -- [Al-Eryani]: I don't think it would
be mass revolution if he is captured.
[PBS]: It would not be? [Al-Eryani]: No.
[PBS]: So the president could order this to happen if he felt like it could be
successful.
[Al-Eryani]: If he does I'm sure he will. And there has been an official statement
that an attempt upon capturing him. But there has never been an agreement to
assassinate
him. The government is totally against that.
[PBS]: You know, back to my question about safe haven and your own clear love of
your country and making sure we understand the history and the culture of Yemen,
you know
that there are many people who write that it might be the next hotbed of terrorism.
[Al-Eryani]: I take issue with that. The number is very small.
Public sympathy is -- frankly, public sympathy is temporary whenever an action takes
place. But Al Qaeda does not have wide popular base, definitely not.
[PBS]: Is the government a friend of the United States? [Al-Eryani]: Absolutely. We
have good cooperation with the United States, with the European Union. We have
security
agreement with all Arab countries and many other countries.
[PBS]: In the security area, clearly we understand the humanitarian need for food
and assistance and shelter. But in the security area, what should the rest of the
world
do? [Al-Eryani]: In the security area I think should emphasize training, equipping,
and human intelligence.
[PBS]: But my impression is -- [Al-Eryani]: Human intelligence has made mistakes
with these cameras and so on.
[PBS]: They've made mistakes? [Al-Eryani]: Yes.
[PBS]: You're smiling. What kind of mistakes have they made? [Al-Eryani]: Well ¿
[PBS]: When they kill the wrong people? [Al-Eryani]: When they kill the wrong
people.
[PBS]: Take me to a sense of what you think might happen in -- ought to happen in
Yemen over the next 12 months.
[Al-Eryani]: I am not very pessimistic, but I think Yemen is in for some
difficulties until the next election in 2011, April 2011. If - - you watch -- if we
have successful
democratic open and fair and free Yemen will be probably out of the blue out of the
darkness.
[PBS]: And so what's necessary to have -- [Al-Eryani]: I think a national dialogue,
which is a subject of interest to the United States, to the European Union, to
Yemen's
friends, or so called friends of Yemen, the national dialogue, and I think the best
thing is a government of national unity.
[PBS]: Thank you for coming.
[Al-Eryani]: Thank you very much for taking me.
[PBS]: It's a pleasure to have you on the program.
[Al-Eryani]: Thank you.